-
Consider the work of God; For who can…
I have just returned from Israel considering the work of God. I went there to consider the work God has ordained for me and now I am home considering the work God has for me as a woman of God! Jesus did not walk on the stones here but His followers do. Jesus did not leave His touch DNA here but his followers do. What I came home with is another teaching to be who Elohim has ordained me to be for His sake and for yours!
I am reading in the book of Ecclesiastes written by a man who considered the work of God and then some but 7:29 tells us exactly what he found. Solomon teaches me, like no time before, I am a follower of Jesus Christ and it is only my DNA I leave behind. He has ordained me to be me and no one else! How often do I need to be taught this – as often as it takes for me to overcome my insecurities about who I am. Truth be told I am an insecure person who is constantly questioning God and His provision. I can see why the Israelites questioned God constantly too. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes it is useless to know everything and be everything because it all comes to vanity if you do not fear God. I cannot be you and you cannot be me. Our schemes pull us away from God ultimately not being who He ordained us to be. The result of us not being who He ordained us to be is two fold: we cover ground not intended for us to cover and we don’t cover ground intended for us to cover.
The Unintended Ground
My Jesus is quick to knock me off my man made pedestal for which I am eternally grateful. I tread on ground not meant for me all the time with my feet and my soul. God does not ordain us to walk where others are intended to walk. Consider the work of God; for who can be successful at work not meant for others. We might think we are successful at accomplishing what we are not ordained for but we are not! Consider this: When we walk down a path meant for someone else we cause great amounts of heartache to those we are trying to serve but the greatest heartache will be ours when we discover what we have done. We have taken the place of someone who has been ordained to do those works for God who will have a greater impact on those being served. You may have helped thousands but they are ordained to help millions. The 990,000 people who were never reached are on your hands. I cannot tell you enough times how important it is to stay out of God’s way and let Him put you in place with your ten rather than someone else’s thousands. This is something we all need to learn over and over again because we are keeping Jesus from those who need Him most. I walked where Jesus walked but that was unintended ground for me to perform my works. Those works were intended for Him alone so they could have the most impact on the plans the Father has for all of us. Stay off of the ground unintended for you so you can cover ground intended specifically for you! The impact you will have can be had by no one else but you!
The Intended Ground
As I walked where Jesus walked (except on the Sea of Galilee for surely I would have sunk like a millstone for lack of faith) I was struck by how each one of His intended steps effected Israel and the world. When Jesus knocks me off my pedestal He is effectively knocking me onto His so I will have an impact on those I am ordained to affect. Consider the work of God; for who can be successful at doing the works meant for them. We will be successful doing the works God has ordained for us even though we do not see it right away. Consider this: When we walk down a path created for us we cause great amounts of joy for those we serve and for ourselves. What ever we do will lead them to Jesus which is the plan of the Father. The world was created for Jesus and all of it’s splendor is also for Him. Walking down the path He has created for us we walk right into His arms and those whom we serve will walk right into His arms as well. We have lead them into His arms and they will in turn lead others into His arms and the 990,000 missed souls will find their place in His arms. Our reward will be the knowledge those have found their place and all the ones we have personally lead into His arms are in place too. Can you now see how important it is to get out of God’s way and let Him place you where you will have the greatest impact for your success is already His success. The impact you will have can be had by no one else but you!
He Allows us to Walk Where He Walks
He continues to remind us of our ordination until we are single minded about it! I don’t know why God allows some to walk someone else’s walk while others He straightens out right away but I do know this – no matter where we walk He has already been there and done that! He knows how our walk will impact others! The ground we walk on is His ground. His plan for this world is already done we are walking toward fulfillment of THE plan which we already know from the Book of Revelation. None of His Words come back to Him empty so walking in His plan is not for Him it is for us. What we need to consider is how much of the works of God we want to be involved in. We can be involved in all of His plans for us or we can be involved in some of them or none of them. The choice is ours. Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13) Become who He has ordained you to be so you stay off ground intended for someone else and you get onto ground intended for you for His sake and the sake of the souls you will impact! Consider the work of Elohim; for who can be YOU better than YOU?
-
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles!
I love the book of Proverbs because it is so clear sometimes it takes my breath away yet so vague it makes my brain numb! I read Proverbs 21:23 and was struck by the double meaning in this verse. I hit myself on the forehead in awe of how God teaches me about my errors. Let me tell you my story.
The Unguarded Story
I host a women’s retreat bi-monthly, I bought them some yummy chocolates knowing I have been watching my girlish figure and so has my mom, who was on her way to visit! We have had food issues for as long as I can remember! I put those yummy chocolates out at the retreat then when I got home, because my mood was such that I was weak, I put them out again. After teaching all day I was exhausted and vulnerable. Previously on my way home I had a chat with myself regarding my tongue so I would not say something in my weakness to offend BUT I should also have had a chat with myself about my mouth too. I guarded my tongue but not my mouth! Not only did I fail to protect myself but I also failed to protect my mother by putting her into the same temptation! Oh, how I long to get the drive to my house back to speak to myself again for my soul now has trouble! When my soul has trouble I have only two choices, I can harden my heart to the trouble or I can relieve it by righting the situation!
Hardened heart cold soul!
Hardening our heart means we are turning off our feeling of love for others and turning in to self! Maintaining our pure feelings for others is not easy and the Words of God never say it is! There are lists of what the result of a hard heart looks like in man. These scenarios happen from time to time in the Scriptures. When I harden my heart I don’t care about putting people into temptation nor do I care whether people have hope. My feelings are more important than you therefore your feelings don’t matter! This is not a permanent choice I will make as a follower of Jesus! I may make it initially because I am human filled with sin but the skills I have learned from Elohim will not allow me to put my own selfish soul in front of my mothers or anyone else’s. If we profess to love Jesus this is the only stance we should take therefore the only thing left to do is right the situation!
Guarding my mouth and tongue!
I didn’t guard my mouth so well but I will make amends with my tongue because my soul has trouble! I know my soul has trouble because the Spirit is pinching it. If your soul never has trouble than I can say with all honesty Satan controls your soul but if it even has the slightest trouble the Spirit is taking control. When the Spirit has control He leads us with a soft heart for people and ourselves. He not only helps us to see what we have done but He provides us with a way out! The way out includes the vision for a future hope of this not happening again affectively avoiding future soul troubles. These plans are called ‘setting up boundaries.’ This is a life skill many fail to establish and if they do they fail to protect them! The Spirit pinches us about the offence then He draws our attention to a verse we have read before then with our remembrance of said verse we become aware of the gravity of our offence. Our soul becomes so troubled we begin to cry out for relief. This is when we know for certain we have chosen them over us!
A Permanent Guard!
It makes complete sense we should get to this place if we are a child of Elohim but our goal should be to never get to this place again by setting up a boundary/rule about this situation or others. Perfecting the life skill of setting boundaries will serve you well in the future. Adhering to boundaries takes practice and determination but the clear speaking of it is the very first step. If we look at my situation clearly we can determine I was vulnerable from a whole day of teaching plus the days before from prep work! My mind was exhausted, but not dead, therefore I was able to make positive decisions such as talking to myself about my tongue but my mouth was left unguarded therefore I made a bad decision in regard to what was going into it. I still snapped at my husband but I was quick to apologize never to do it again on that night because I had talked to myself. I had the wherewithal to guard the output but not the input.
A way out and a way never!
I have the way out of this situation (make it right) but I must come up with way for it never to happen again (put a guard up for my mouth). I will not fool myself into thinking I can cure this particular soul trouble over night, as I told you food has been a problem for my mom and I for as long as I can remember. Reality has to remain a factor in setting boundaries and maintaining them effectively. Since, I am effected by this exhaustion for days before and the night of, I must hold to a mouth and tongue boundary for several days before as well as on the very day. I bought the said junk food the day before the retreat without the prior plan to buy it, my first mistake. It was a quick decision based on a lack of a plan for this mindset, no plan was my second mistake. To overcome the soul trouble resulting from brain exhaustion I will set a food boundary during this time – the buying of it and the eating of it! I will set this boundary while I am free from exhaustion and thinking clearly about what I should eat and what I should buy. Since my next retreat isn’t for two months I will have plenty of time to practice this boundary before the actual time arrives.
You know your weakness…
Since boundaries are about the yes’s and the no’s we have to discover our weaknesses and also discover what will work for us to overcome it. It takes practice to know what will work but you too can plan in advance what you will say or do during a weak moment. You alone (and the Spirit) know when it will occur and what it will take to overcome the event that will cause soul trouble. This is the very thing Jesus is talking about when He says, “To him who overcomes!” He knows we need reward but He also knows when the stakes are high we will come through. It is not about the deed it is about taking the way out and planning a way to stay out. To do this we must know who we are and what our weakness are and plan to tap into our strengths as our way out. This is something we are fully capable of doing when we use what God gives us plus making the choice to be an overcomer in the Kingdom of God!
-
Diligence is a Man’s Possession
Do you work hard for everything? Nothing comes to me easily as I am sure the same is for most women. I have worked hard and long for the possessions I have. Nothing has been handed to me on a silver platter. I was not born to a rich family nor did I marry into one. Today, some folks may think they are entitled to riches and deserving of poverty because of who they are or where they live. Neither one of them are important because each one of them can change at the drop of a hat. The only possession we should treasure is diligence but some of us tend to use it only when we feel like it as if it is a book to be pulled off the shelf.
Whoever thinks life is easy is a lazy man!
If diligence is a book we leave on the shelf collecting dust we have deliberately given someone else a part of our life. Think of it this way. Knowledge and understanding are not things we can rely on other people for. We must learn for ourselves and get understanding on our own to improve our own life skills. Each act or discipline we learn contributes to knowledge and understanding therefore the less we do the less we know. Proverbs 12:27a says the lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting. This Scripture refers to more than just hunting meat. Elohim is saying the lazy man is the one who does just what is expected of him and even less. Those of us who think life is hard and complicated and convoluted are the ones who work hard to overcome each and every obstacle but those who think life is easy are the ones who start a job and never finish it because it got too hard. It is easy to hunt and walk away from the kill while others pick up the kill, haul it to the butcher then go pick up the prepared packages and cook it for you. A lazy man makes life easy for himself at the expense of his life skills but a diligent man takes possession of his diligence to gain knowledge and understanding.
Take Possession of Diligence
What causes us to be lazy? Think hard because it could be many things, or a combination: pride, jealousy, co-dependence, fear or habit. The list is endless for reasons and boundless in excuses. When we take possession of our diligence we are agreeing to work for what we want and improve our life. Proverbs 12:27b tells us diligence is a man PRECIOUS POSSESSION! Acting with all diligence does not always mean instant success each time but it does supply instant knowledge. Diligence doesn’t always continue in the direction started since correction IS heeded. Diligence sometimes resigns due to an understanding gained. Diligence may never results in physical possessions but always results in knowledge, understanding and wisdom that will ultimately result in knowing what we possess does not possess us. Diligence does not protect us from life it simply protects us from losing everything!
To Diligence Everything is Untouchable
When we take possession of diligence we see physical possessions as something corruptible. It’s the skills we’ve learned that are incorruptible therefore they become everything to us. We use those life skills to gain more life skills. When we get lazy and stop learning we forgo the skills to care for ourselves therefore we cannot take care of our loved ones. When calamity happens we blame others and never take responsibility for the calamity or even our own laziness. It is the fool who says, “I am lazy!” but never changes it. The only control we have in life is the ability to let our family know we care about them by using all diligence to meet the needs they have whether it is money, food, or love and encouragement.
Pay the Price for Diligence
Nothing in life comes without a cost; either we pay cold hard cash for it or calories. When we are diligent to make our family matter we do what is right for them to keep them safe from harm. The price for diligence is our own wants. The price for diligence is our won bad habits and the price for diligence is our own lame excuses for our lack of success in caring for our loved ones. When we pay the price there will always be a reward. The price is doing what Scripture so thoroughly teaches us to do. There is no other Book that can completely teach us how to live. As we get into the will of God we improve our skills to diligently overcome the issues of life. Each time we overcome a reward is credited to us toward life on the New Earth (Revelation 1, 2, 3). Heaven is not our permanent home, the new earth is (Revelation 21 & 22). Acting with all diligence teaches us to overcome knowing we will have rewards given to us when Jesus comes.
The proof of this is just a few verses away. Proverbs 13:4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. Take possession of diligence on earth to gain your rewards for eternity!
